Thursday, February 25, 2010

Mojo - One year Angelversary

Dearest Mojo,

It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since I saw your sweet face. Or got to snuggle with you on the couch. Or was bossed around by your 'pack-a-day' voice :) I hope you are having the best time at the bridge, playing with all the others, and living life to the fullest. We think about you daily and feel so blessed to have known you those 4 short years. Your legacy lives on though...I saw Dr Murphy the other day and she told me she's used your photos in her lectures to help other vets. I am so proud of you Mojo, and how you handled everything life through at you with grace and a determination to make the best of the situation. You were a special boy for sure. See you again one day.

Mojo hanging out in his favorite chair. He looks so pretty against the red!

I wanted to take this time to show folks the progression of his tumor. Fibrosarcoma is unfortunately too widespread in cats, and I believe that knowledge is power. Stop reading here if you don't want to see...none of the pictures are gory though. Here's Mojo in August after his biopsy. He's back home and already playing. He had many tests done to figure out the type of tumor and the stage of the cancer. It was about the size of a marble at this time. The oncologists came back with the recommendation of surgery to remove the tumor and then 21 days of radiation to try and kill off any remaining cancer cells. This sounds fine and dandy, until we learned that in order to achieve 'clear' margins the surgeons want to remove his arm and some ribs. We were not willing to put him through something so radical and felt it was better for him to just enjoy the time he had left. The only guarantee they could give us was that the tumor would come back. Sorry, but no thanks.

So we did the next best thing, and threw a party! Here's Mojo waiting on the gift table for more guests to arrive! His hair has grown back around the biopsy site and he's feeling great. We are blessed to have some of the best friends and Mojo supporters around. He touched many lives.


This picture was taken in October. The tumor area is shaved and you can just make out the radiation lines. We decided to do one round of paliative radiation to try and provide some relief. Mojo seemed to be in a bit of pain, and we tried this option to see how the tumor would respond, and how Mojo would handle it. He did great until a few weeks later when we ended up with some radiation side effects. Nothing too terrible, but confirmed our decision to stop all treatments and just continue with pain management at home.

Picture taken in December. Mojo is very sleepy in this picture, and you can see how the tumor has grown. He was still jumping and playing some, but not eating as much as we would have liked. The tumor 'ate' a lot of his calories and he was getting pretty thin. He was already a skinny cat, without a lot of room for loss.

February, we had started on steroids and saw immediate improvement for a few weeks. The weather was nice, so we took him outside some. You can see how thin he's getting and how large the tumor is. It has a few sores on it, but we were lucky that it did not rupture or ooze.


His last day with us, hanging out in his heated bed. We were upping the pain meds too frequently now and still didn't feel we had a good handle on the pain. He was having to labor a bit more to breathe, and the morning of this photo, his front arm had gone lame. We had already scheduled with our good friend and vet to come over this morning and end his suffering. We were able to be there with him, and it was all extremely peaceful. We were able to let him die with dignity, by doing this one last act of kindness for him.


We took him to the vet school and let them have the tumor for research. I hope they can learn from his suffering so another cat will be spared.
Missing you today and always Mojo...Fly High Superman!

23 comments:

  1. Mojo seemed like a afurry special, handsome boy! We're sorry he had to leave you so quickly, but we totally understand doing what you did. He lived a wonderful life while he was here and he is waiting patiently for the time you shall meet again. Fly Free Mojo!

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  2. He was a handsome boy and I'm so very sorry for you loss. I have found that time doesn't really heal the wounds in our hearts, but that it does ease the sharpness of the grief.

    Sending you all Light and wishing you universal Blessings and Peace.

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  3. Mojo reminds me of my baby Momo from many years ago, except Momo didn't have the perfect moustache that Mojo did! What a sweet looking cat! We're so sorry you're missing him, but we can see why he's missed. We're sending you big purrs.

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  4. What a special guy Mojo was! So brave! We are purring for all of you who are missing him today...this angelversary...and every day...

    (Mom says she loves your description of "pack-a-day voice!" That's what she says I have!! ~Ernie)

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  5. *tears* We are sending you our best hugs, purrs and comforting vibes today as you remember you sweet Mojo. He sure had a great life with you and we love that you threw him a party! We bet Mojo and Cal are romping around at the bridge together. They left only about a month apart.

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  6. Oh SuziQCat!

    I'm so moved by all this. I am so so so so glad that Mojo had his forever home with you. What a special and beautiful cat.

    My own feline friend has gone through the tumour removal and had half her chemo protocols completed but she has not responded well to the chemo so now it's all pain management and counting the precious days I have with her. She is also going through senility as well. But she is eating and her weight is steady and she,like your beautiful Mojo right to the end, continues to play and be interested in the world around her.

    We would both like to send you lots and lots and lots of kittykat hugs and furry cuddles on this anniversary of the lovely Mojo's new life on over the bridge.

    Take care
    x

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  7. I can't stop my tears from falling :((

    Mojo must be happy up there without anymore pain...

    hugs from us here

    Take care...

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  8. What a cutie Mojo was - it is so sad that he had to go through that, but it is great that you gave him such a wonderful life while he was here.

    We are sending lots of purrs and hugs to you today.

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  9. Thank you for sharing Mojo's story. He was a very handsome and brave boy. We send you purrs and (((hugs)))

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  10. What a beautiful boy. I cried through the entire post. I know you didn't mean for it to be sad, but it hurts me to see an animal suffer. I know he had a wonderful life and a family that loved and adored him, so he was very blessed. I've always been a dog person, but got a rescue kitty 7 months ago and am in LOVE! Thank you for sharing Mojo's story. :)

    Hugs,
    Lisa

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  11. Purring for you as you remember Mojo. He was certainly a handsome mancat! xoxo

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  12. What a kind and loving gift you gave Mojo, a release from his suffering. We know that wasn't easy to do.

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  13. What a handsome fella Mojo was.....and what a wonderful and informative tribute to him today. Bless you for the course you decided to take, and I'm sure Mojo thanks you, too. It is so difficult to lose our loved ones, that we tend to try to hang on, but there are times we just have to let them have some quality of life and skip all the surgery, etc. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  14. Wishing you a sweet day of lovely Mojo memeories!

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  15. We are sad for your loss.

    Mojo seems like he was an absolute joy in your lives. He certainly had beautiful markings.

    We're sorry to learn he is no longer with you.

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  16. What a brave boy, sending your tumor to the school to help other kitties. Sometimes animals have a higher purpose in addition to making their humans so happy. If you want to come back as a cat again you are welcome to come live with us here on Cape Cod!

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  17. So sad, now I could cry. Special baby.

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  18. What a handsome boy. The Mommy's eyes are all leaky. Many purrrrrrrs to you all today.

    Purrs and hugs,
    The Kitty Krew and The Mommy

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  19. That was such a beautiful tribute, there is not one dry whisker at our house.

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  20. We are deeply touched by Mojo's story. He sounds like he was such a wonderful boy.

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  21. What a nice tribute to a special kitty. Happy angelversary to Mojo, and purrs to all of you.

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  22. This is a beautiful tribute to a sweet, handsome kitty. I'm sorry for your loss of Mojo. I totally understand about you still missing him. I like what Kea said about time helping to ease the sharpness of the pain. Thank you for sharing this.

    Hugs to you as you remember your sweetheart.

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  23. That was a beautiful tribute to MoJo. We understand how difficult it is to lose someone you love this way. We have lost 2 cats to cancer, Mohawk and Clyde.

    May your memories and photos provide you some comfort.

    Padre, Panda Bear, Meerkat, Cookie, and Caramel

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